Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.11 - Chapter SS2

The New Aub’s Awesome Magic

“Finally back, Jiffy? Good work out there.”

“Yeah. Not a great haul today. I’m sure there used to be more fish in these parts.”

I grabbed some branches from a nearby stack, threw them in my box, and then joined the circle of men relaxing by the port. We always got together after work to chat, drink, and cook the fish we hadn’t been able to sell.

I dumped the branches beside me, turned my box over, and plopped down onto it. Then, using my trusty knife, I started shaving one of the branches into a skewer.

“Oy,” I said. “Pass me one of them fish, will ya?”

“Catch.” Not just one but three fish soared through the air toward me. “Cook ’em up and you can eat with us. It’s nearly suppertime. There’s some salt over there, if ya need it.”

“Ooh, thanks.”

I rubbed some salt onto the fish, skewered them, and then held them over the fire. They always went nicely with some alcohol. I pulled the cup from my belt and held it out to Torem.

“Fill ’er up.”

We all chipped in to buy the beer, so we could drink as much as we wanted. Right? Torem looked at the bottle in his hand, then at me, and grimaced.

“You sure, Jiffy? Heard you fightin’ with your wife yesterday. Didn’t sound pretty.”

“Aah, don’t mind that. She gave me an earful, sure, but hangin’ out with you lot and sharing news is part of the job! Can’t expect a landswoman to understand.”

“Sounds like hogwash to me.”

I wasn’t the only fisherman whose wife and daughter complained about our little meetups. Anyone who thought the sea was a harsh mistress hadn’t met our women! We cackled to each other and dismissed Torem’s warning until, at last, he poured me a drink.

I drained my cup and belched. Work was so awful these days that a good swig of beer was the only thing keeping me going. My fish was cooking nicely—the skin was brown, the fat crackled, and juice ran down the skewer.

“So, who took the fish to the castle today?”

“Pretty sure it was Segt and Ank. Anything interesting happen?”

Once again, our topic of the day was the castle. Well, the new aub. She’d sent those arrogant foreigners packing and then closed the huge gate out at sea so they wouldn’t come back. She was young enough that her hair was still down, but that didn’t matter to us—she was a hero, through and through. Every time one of us went to the castle, we asked the chefs and servants for any new information about her.

The day after the foreigners were kicked out, a noble had sent us a request for extra fish, since some knights staying at the castle were eating through their entire stock. We’d given them as much as we could as thanks for their big rescue. Someone had told us since then that the aub loved eating fish, so we’d started sending her the best of whatever we caught each morning.

“Oh yeah, we got some big news this time. Straight from the court chef. Turns out the new aub likes ‘shioyaki.’”

“The heck is that? Doesn’t even sound like a real word.”

“Is it some kinda cookin’ method from her old duchy? Doesn’t tell us a thing about what kinda fish she likes. Get us somethin’ more useful next time!”

As rumor had it, the new aub was from another duchy to the north. Maybe that was why she liked fish cooked in strange ways. We all grimaced at the lack of any decent news, but Segt and Ank just looked at each other and cackled.

“Naw, get this—it’s just a fancy name for salted fish.”

“One of the chefs said she wanted some fish with good white meat.”

Everyone fell silent.

“Salted fish? Like, what we’re eatin’ now?” I gestured at my skewer, then turned it around to cook the other side of my fish. We fishermen ate this kinda food all the time—it only required two ingredients, both of which we got from the ocean—but it sounded way too simple for a noble.

“Yep. Didn’t believe the chefs, did we, Segt?”

“Nope. But they triple-checked with the noble who placed the order, and it wasn’t a mistake. Poor lot must’ve been sweatin’ up a storm. Didn’t even give ’em a chance to show the new aub their skills.”

“So she eats her fish like we do? You’ve gotta be pullin’ our legs. I thought nobles always covered their food with strange herbs or made it spicy enough to make their tongues go numb.”

“Maybe she ain’t too fond of spicy foreign food. Since she’s from another duchy and all. Hand me that fish, will ya, Jiffy? That one’s mine.”

“She ignored all the fancy noble dishes and went straight for the salted fish. Feels... kinda nice, really.”

I gave Ank his fish and chewed on what he’d told us while I downed the last of my beer. “She loves the fish we bring her and prefers our style of cookin’ over that Lanzenave junk... I feel closer to her than ever.”

“Same. The last aub had some screws loose, so I didn’t care who took her place, but... I’m glad we got this new girl.”

Couldn’t blame him there. Our previous aub had also been young—barely of age—but she was a real piece of work. “Anything’s better than that other girl. The moment her ol’ man died, all the rules started gettin’ ignored.”

“She showed those foreigners across the gate way too much favoritism and didn’t make ’em leave when they were s’posed to. That’s why the ocean’s gettin’ all cloudy and there ain’t as many fish as there used to be.”

“Eeh... I don’t think that’s the reason, but we’ve definitely had a fish problem since she came into power.”

It was around the time the old archduke died and the foreigners’ black-and-silver ships appeared that the fish started dying and the ocean lost its luster. Some merchants had made a killing from all the extra business with the foreigners, so maybe they’d preferred our previous aub, but we fishermen hated her guts. Our livelihoods were at stake.

“Those big ships blocked the port, and the guards let the foreigners be all sorts of violent. We couldn’t even put ’em in their place without gettin’ yelled at. It was insane.”

“Not to mention those creeps were kidnappers too.”

I remembered the evening we’d seen their wagons and carriages going to and from the port. The boxes they’d carried were huge, and we’d all assumed the foreigners were finally going home. We had watched them from afar and enjoyed some beer, glad to see the back of them.

It wasn’t until the following morning that we realized they were kidnappers.

We were fishing before sunrise when we noticed bound women in the wagons. They wore nice clothes, which told us they were either rich women or nobles, and were being carried into the foreigners’ ships.

“They’re nobles, ain’t they?” one of my mates had asked. “This can’t be good.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” another had cried. “If we don’t do somethin’, we’re gonna get the blame!”

News spread through the fishermen, and our anger with the foreigners finally exploded.

“Quit wreckin’ our port like you own the place!”

“We just wanna fish! Your ships are in the way!”

“Rescue the women! Attack the ships! There might be more!”

We quit our fishing and used our harpoons and nets to attack the foreigners. It was still dark out, so we hurt ourselves as much as we hurt our targets, but we weren’t gonna stop once we’d picked a fight with them.

The new aub then showed up with a group of nobles. Some wore the purple capes we were used to, but others wore blue and yellow ones. They attacked the ship and settled our fight in the blink of an eye.

“At first, I thought we were in for it,” I said.

“Yeah! Nearly soiled my trousers when they showed up. Didn’t know if they were gonna thank us for saving the ladies or kill us for attackin’ their precious trade partners.”

Seeing the knights arrive had made us all nervous, but they’d immediately started attacking the foreigners and rescuing the kidnapped women.

“They smashed those huge ships with ease. We’re nothin’ compared to nobles, huh?”

“Don’t forget what came next—the new aub froze the ocean with that huge light and closed the gate out at sea. She even went outta her way to heal us. It’s a lot to take in, but one thing’s clear: she’s somethin’ else.”

The new aub used seasonal magic we’d never seen before. She was nothing like any of the nobles we knew.

“Never seen or heard of any other aubs healin’ commoners. She really is somethin’ else, ain’t she?”

Some green light had rained down on us, and all the cuts and bruises on my arms had vanished. They didn’t even hurt anymore. We’d seen some yellow light next, which one of the knights told us was a spell meant to protect the citizenry. He must’ve been right because the foreigners hadn’t been able to hurt us after that. I didn’t think I’d ever experience something like that again, but that was fine; I was just glad to know that the nobles saw us fishermen as worthy of protection.

“Well, it ain’t all good,” Segt complained, slumping his shoulders as he bit into his fish. “My old man finally retired, but that healin’ spell fixed up his leg. Now he won’t quit yakkin’ about gettin’ back to work.”

“Guess the old coot’s still got some fire in his belly!”

We all cackled. Segt’s old man had punched the foreigners with as much force as he put into yelling at kids who caused trouble on the water. Now that he was better, he and Segt were fighting about who owned their boat and who was the head of the family.

“No two aubs are the same, huh? She’s nothin’ like that blonde lass.”

The young blonde aub had come to the port once to watch the foreign ships leave. We hadn’t seen her there since, as she’d called us all eyesores and ordered us to stay home during her future visits. She’d even told us to moor our ships so far away that she wouldn’t be able to see them. I doubted that girl would have ever healed or protected us.

“Well, not everyone’s good at fishin’. Doesn’t surprise me that not everyone’s good at bein’ an aub. Just a shame that our last one was such a disaster.”

“Our lives are at stake! We can’t afford to have disasters in charge!”

“Yeah, and it sucked while we did.”

“Gossiping about the new aub again, huh?” a new voice called.

I turned and saw Furt. He wasn’t a fisherman but a shipmate on a merchant vessel that carried goods here and there. His most recent shipment had taken him up north; he must’ve just gotten back.

“Good news, then,” he said. “I saw the new aub doing some work up north!”

“Yeah?! What kinda work?!”

We all made room for him, excited to have any news about the aub. He passed around the fruit and alcohol he’d brought us as souvenirs, then turned over a box and sat with us. His cup was full of beer before he knew it.

“So, I went up to Kannawitz...” he began.

Kannawitz was a province bordering the ocean. The merchant ship Furt worked on would stop by several cities on its way north, buy local goods in Kannawitz, and then return south.

Furt continued, “We saw Lady Rozemyne and some others on their highbeasts while we were making our way back here.”

“‘Lady Rozemyne’? Is that the new aub’s name? How did ya find out?” It was rare for commoners to learn a noble’s name. Merchants allowed to visit noble estates and the castle might pick up a few, sure, but never fishermen like us.

Furt gave a proud smile and said, “Lemme get to that. Just like when she intervened in the fight, she was the only one riding a two-seater. She was carrying this big chalice-looking thing and pouring rainbow light down from the sky. It made the cloudy ocean turn clear in moments!”

“Furt, calm the heck down,” I said. “I’m not followin’ at all. You gotta explain what the rainbow light was. And don’t skimp on the details. Was it like that green healing magic? Or the yellow protective kind, maybe?”

“I dunno, but it was crazy. The seaweed grew so suddenly that the ocean changed color, and the fish too thin to be caught in nets became huge! I swear, all the fishermen nearby went nuts.”

“Huh?! ’Course they went nuts! And you’re serious?!” I’d never heard of magic that could make fish grow like that.

“Yeah, I’m serious. They started cheering and waving at Lady Rozemyne, so guess what? She waved back! Everyone cheered again, and a guy from her group came over and told everyone to pray.”

“To... pray?”

“Yup. He said something like ‘Lady Rozemyne, the Divine Avatar of Mestionora, has become the aub of this land. Offer her your prayers! Praise be to Lady Rozemyne!’”

That reminded me—we were meant to pray during our baptism and coming-of-age. It must’ve been the same kind of prayer. Furt and the others in Kannawitz had apparently been so thrilled that they’d done as they were asked without question, inspiring Lady Rozemyne to pour even more rainbow light into the province.

“That’s nuts. Real nuts. But we’re the ones taking fish to the castle, right?” I smacked a fist against my knee. “She should do somethin’ about the water here!”

Furt crossed his arms. “You might not know this, since you only fish in close waters, but the land and ocean are way worse up north. People are starving there. Bindewald doesn’t even have a giebe right now, so things there are absolute hell. Only makes sense she’d start with the north.”

That was fair enough; I didn’t know much about how the duchy was doing elsewhere. I wished she’d give us some attention too, but everyone all across the duchy was probably thinking the same thing.

“She’s just starting with the worst spots,” Furt said. “We can expect her back here soon. She won’t abandon us, so we’ve just gotta wait our turn.”

“Yeah... You’re right.” Something told me she’d come back, especially when she was doing so much for the sake of the duchy’s commoners.

“Gotta admit, I’m looking forward to when she does return,” Furt said. “We saw her go west in that weird rainbow thing.”

“Huh? ‘Weird rainbow thing’?”

“Well, we were curious. We wanted to know what Lady Rozemyne was gonna do next, so we moored at a nearby city and spoke to some of the farmers there. They told us she was staying in a huge rainbow house.” He pointed, so I turned to look with a mouthful of cooked fish. “It was twice the size of that granary over there but had the head and tail of a feybeast. A creation of the gods, if ever I’ve seen one. Though it was pretty weird.”

A rainbow granary with an animal head...? That just doesn’t make sense.

“And get this—it flew.”

“Furt, are ya losin’ it?” I asked. “I get that you wanna make it sound cool, but enough already. Somethin’ that big could never leave the ground.”

“I’m being serious! You’re gonna eat your words when she comes back this way.”

“Yeah, whatever. Sure hope we see her again soon.”

We were trying to calm Furt when we heard some banging. Someone—from the soldiery or maybe one of the guilds—must have had an announcement to make. It usually meant the nobles had made some kind of unreasonable demand. Last time, it was a message to the fishermen telling us to leave the port before the foreigners arrived. It hadn’t even been the usual trade period.

“What’s goin’ on?” I wondered. “Lady Rozemyne’s still up north, ain’t she?”

Were the nobles trying to do something while the new aub was away? We all stood, feeling anxious, and went to the plaza. Others stepped outside their homes to hear what the person causing the racket had to say.

“Urgent news from the castle,” one of several soldiers announced. “Tonight, between sixth and seventh bell, the new aub plans to cast a large-scale spell to fill the entire duchy with mana at once. Do not be alarmed if the sky starts to light up. I repeat...”

In other words, we didn’t need to do anything. I could see why the soldiers had warned us, but a spell wasn’t really something to get worked up about. We went back to sitting by the port, feeling a little disappointed.

“Wonder what he meant by the sky lightin’ up...” I said. “Is rainbow light gonna start rainin’ down on us or somethin’?”

“He was probably referring to the rainbow thing I saw,” Furt said. “You know, the big one with the face? Bet we’re gonna see it.”

“There you go again...” I sighed. “You’re not gonna fool us.”

“Gah! Just you wait! It’s seriously the weirdest thing ever!”

We drank more and continued to chat before going our separate ways to watch whatever Lady Rozemyne’s spell was gonna do. It was late enough that I’d normally be in bed—I rose before dawn on days I went fishing—but instead, I stood outside with my wife, Fina.

“If it’d stop you drinking so much, I’d want the aub to cast this spell every night,” she said.

“Instead of goin’ to the well, how ’bout we wait by the port? Furt told us a story ’bout this other province’s ocean changin’ color. I wanna see if ours changes too.”

“Doubt you’d even notice when it’s this dark out, but sure.”

We passed the plaza where our neighbors were waiting and soon reached the street. Most people we saw were staring up at the sky in anticipation, while others headed to the mountains near the Noble’s Quarter. It was like a festival. We heard a buzz of excitement everywhere we went.

“Jiffy! Fina! Had the same idea, did ya?”

We arrived at the port to find a bunch of people gathered already. Fina saw the beer in their hands as they sat around the fire and pulled a face like she’d just swallowed dirt.

“What’s with you men?” she snapped. “Is drinking all you’re good at?”

“Now, now, Fina. Don’t get so mad,” Ank said. “It’s not every night that the aub does somethin’ for us. Come have a beer, why don’t ya? Jiffy—grab your wife a box to sit on.”

I nodded to Ank, who was waving his bottle around while trying to cheer up Fina, and went to fetch two boxes. We all drank and ate whatever food people brought from their homes while waiting for the spell to begin.

“Oh, I think it’s starting. There’s something bright over there.”

Fina pointed, and everyone followed her finger. Pale light stretched out from the castle, which sat much higher than the port and the rest of the city. I was starting to think it was larger than anything Furt had described when a burst of green shot up into the sky.

“Green light?!” I cried. “Furt, you said it was rainbow!”

We all turned and saw him frowning up at the sky. “Yeah, this ain’t what I saw...” he muttered. “I don’t see Lady Rozemyne or her knights...”

The green light moved as though it were alive. It went from the sky above the castle to the Noble’s Quarter and the lower city before shooting straight over our heads, drawing a stripe as it went.

“It’s goin’ toward the gate, right?”

“Is rainbow light gonna fall outta the green line?”

We watched and waited as the line headed west. A complex pattern soon started sprouting from it.

“It looks... kinda like lacework,” one of the women said.

“Mm-hmm,” another agreed. “Like one of those decorative fans them rich girls use.”

The other women seemed just as moved, and they kept saying how wonderful the design looked. We men were seeing exactly the same thing from exactly the same place, but we had something else on our minds.

“It’s impressive, but... it ain’t rainbow-colored.”

“This ain’t that big weird thing that you were tellin’ us about, right? It is pretty huge, though.”

“I never said anything about a pattern!” Furt protested. “It was a huge granary-sized thing! It could move, soar through the air, and even had a strange head, remember?!”

“Furt, the heck did you even see?”

“That’s what I wanna know!” he shouted. “What was she doing in Kannawitz?!”

His confusion aside, the magic actually was kinda crazy. It continued west, then went north, and the pattern kept spreading. The announcement had told us to expect a large-scale spell, but this was even greater than any of us had imagined. We stared up at the green lines in awe.

“Attention citizens of Ahrensbach, soon to be called Alexandria. Can you hear me?”

“What the...?!” I almost jumped out of my skin. “Where’s that voice comin’ from?!” It belonged to a young man but seemed to be coming from some kinda device nearby. I’d never seen anything like it.

“I serve Lady Rozemyne, this duchy’s new aub,” the voice continued. “My lady created the magic circle now stretching across the sky to fill this barren duchy with mana. You are bearing witness to a spell dating back to the era of myth—one that can be performed only by the Divine Avatar of Mestionora. To receive the gods’ blessings, one must pray. And to best serve Alexandria, one must pray to Lady Rozemyne. Praise be to the gods!”

“Um... What?”

“It matters not whether you are a commoner or a noble,” the voice continued. “Everyone is taught to pray during their baptism and coming-of-age ceremony. Your zeal will determine the strength of the blessing that enriches this land. Pray to better your lives and to enrich the barren earth with mana. I shall say it again—praise be to the gods!”

We couldn’t even see this mystery speaker, but his intensity came through loud and clear. He wanted us to pray. We all stood, confused and a little overwhelmed.

“Well, if prayin’ will make the fish come back...” I muttered.

“I recognize this voice,” Furt said. “We heard this guy when we went north. He gave us the same instructions, so we all prayed on board our ship.”

Together, we went over the pose the priests had taught us in the temple. “We’ve gotta raise our hands and right leg... right?”

“And you’ve gotta shout, ‘Praise be to the gods!’” Furt added, demonstrating for us.

I wasn’t convinced that praying would actually change things, but I couldn’t refuse to try. It was for the good of the duchy—or so we were being told—and we commoners would end up in more trouble than most if our land and ocean didn’t improve.

“Let us pray to Lady Rozemyne, the Divine Avatar of Mestionora!” the voice announced. “Praise be to the gods!”

“Praise be to the gods?”

We did our best, but it wasn’t good enough; the noble we couldn’t see immediately started criticizing us.

“That was insulting! Take this seriously! There is no divide between nobles and commoners when it comes to prayer! To all the nobles out there—you should understand just how much mana this spell demands and how much Lady Rozemyne is shaving down her life to cast it. Now, everyone, make your hearts one! Give a prayer befitting Lady Rozemyne’s magic!”

As it turned out, nobles were being forced to give this prayer too. I didn’t know who was leading the charge, but we imagined the looks on the nobles’ faces and cackled.

“Funny to think we’re all in the same boat.”

“Lady Rozemyne’s givin’ up some of her life to do somethin’ that even nobles find tough?”

An image of our new aub appeared in my mind—a young woman not even old enough to wear her hair up. She was from another duchy but hadn’t even hesitated to cast this spell for us. It was our duty as citizens to help out.

“Maybe we weren’t takin’ it seriously enough...” I said. “Let’s put our all into this next one.”

By the third prayer, we could hear shouting from outside the port. By the fourth, we were all competing to be the loudest, and our voices boomed to the point that it sounded like the whole city was praying.

“We’re getting there!” the leader of our prayer exclaimed. “One more! Let us pray to Lady Rozemyne, the Divine Avatar of Mestionora! The avatar of a goddess! Praise be to the gods!”

“Praise be to the gods!”

We prayed so passionately that the whole city seemed to shake, and that was when I saw the green light coming back toward us. It had twisted all around the duchy and spread so far that there were barely any more gaps in the night sky.

“We’re so close! The circle’s connecting!”

The line returned to the castle, completing the magic circle, and a dazzling flash lit up the night sky. Green light rained down on the entire duchy as if the circle had started to crumble.

“Ooh! Praise be to the gods!”

We all cheered at once, maybe because praying together had united us. The voice coming from the strange device raved the entire time.

“We witness the revival of an ancient spell using divine mana from the gods! How glorious! Praise be to Lady Rozemyne! To our Divine Avatar of Mestionora! Everyone who prayed, behold your rejuvenated duchy and express your gratitude to your new aub!”

Those of us near the ocean peered down into the water, but my wife was right—it was too dark for us to notice any changes. Still, we had high hopes based on what Furt had seen in Kannawitz.

“Can’t wait for tomorrow. Let’s go get some sleep. Meet back here at dawn and we’ll check out the ocean together!”

As we rushed down the buzzing city streets on our way home, our wives teased us that we were all too excited to get any rest.

Morning came, and once again, Fina was right—I had barely slept a wink and woke up even earlier than usual. It was still dark out, but it wouldn’t be too long before the sun came up. I ran outside and raced down the steps, intending to pass right by the well, but I stopped in my tracks when something rustled under my feet.

“What the...?!”

There hadn’t been grass there the night before, but now it was tall enough to reach my shins. I crouched down and touched it. Even through my sandals, I could feel that the hard, dry earth had turned soft.

“Is this real...?” I murmured. “Man, if even the well changed this much, how’s the ocean gonna be?”

I continued rushing toward the port, excitement brewing in my chest. The sky seemed to get brighter with each step. I’d probably have an amazing view of the ocean by the time I reached the port.

Taking deep breaths, I ran through the alleys and turned sharp corners. I reached the main street, which led straight to the port, and... stopped. Beyond white buildings and the white road, I saw a bright blue-green ocean. Even from this far away, I could tell the water was clear.

“No way... I’ve never seen the ocean like this.”

Only then did it occur to me just how dark and murky the water had been before. Ever since those black-and-silver boats had come through, the fish had started dying faster than ever, and the ocean had become especially clouded. I thought of all the days we’d set out to sea and come back empty-handed.

“This is how it used to be...” said a voice I immediately recognized.

I turned and saw Segt with his dad. They were heading to the port as well. We decided to make the rest of the journey together.

“Decided to let your old man set sail with ya, eh?” I asked Segt. I remembered their arguments over who owned their ship and whether his dad would return from retirement, but maybe they’d finally reached an agreement.

“I’m gettin’ me ship back,” Segt’s dad declared. “The aub fixed me up like it were nothin’! Gotta thank her by gettin’ her fish!”

“Huh?! I told ya I’m the one gettin’ her fish!” Segt complained. “You’re retired, old man! Stay outta this!”

So much for them reaching an agreement. It didn’t really matter to me which one of them took charge, but there was one thing I couldn’t let fly. I stretched my arms and then raced on ahead.

“Too bad, both of ya! I’m gonna get the aub her fish!”

“Huh?! Get back here, Jiffy!”

“We’ll straight’n this out later, son. Don’t let ’im win!”

We raced each other to the port, where we found other fishermen already trying to launch their boats. We must have been on the late side.

“Finally up an’ about, eh?” one of our mates teased us. “We’re goin’ on ahead. It’s a race to see who gets to thank Lady Rozemyne first!”

“Hoorah! Weigh anchor! Prepare to set out!”

“Praise be to Lady Rozemyne! Praise be to the gods!”

Fishermen launched their boats and sailed out onto the sparkling ocean. There were so many fish swimming around that we could see them with our own two eyes, and their glistening scales made for an even more wonderful sight.

I climbed aboard my own boat and set out as well.